Adolescents’ rejection sensitivity as manifested in their self-drawings

This study correlated measures of adolescents’ rejection sensitivity with their self-drawings in a sample of 323 nonclinical Israeli adolescents. Drawings were coded using the DAP-SPED scoring system (Naglieri, 1988). The findings indicated no correlation between adolescents’ level of rejection sensitivity and the DAP-SPED composite score. A global comparison of drawings found differences in the size and placement of the figure for participants with a high level of rejection sensitivity, and detached self-drawings from participants with low levels of anxious expectation of rejection. The findings suggest that art therapists should use a more broadly conceived, overall impression approach to art-based assessment than any sign-based approach.